SAN FRANCISCO  As Barry Bonds continues to add to his dazzling array of achievements, the San Francisco Giants slugger says nothing tops the first step.

Barry Bonds hits against the Los Angeles Dodgers during his days in Pittsburgh. The outfielder played seven years for the Pirates and won two of his six Most Valuable Player Awards with them.

By Craig Fuji, AP

"When I got drafted out of college, that was the proudest moment," Bonds says of being chosen by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the sixth overall pick in 1985. "That was something I wanted to do, and I did it."

Not by coincidence, the last time the Pirates were a playoff team was Bonds' final year with them. The record-setting slugger played seven seasons with the Pirates, leading them to three consecutive National League Championship Series from 1990-92 and winning his first two of a record six MVP awards.

"Once in a while, it's mind-boggling to sit and think you managed possibly the greatest player ever to play the game," says Jim Leyland, a rookie manager in Bonds' 1986 initial season who managed throughout the slugger's Pittsburgh tenure.

"It's been kind of neat to watch him go from a brash, young rookie out of college to where he is today. We knew we had a superstar on our hands. But I can't say I thought he'd be chasing Hank Aaron's record and all the other things."

Syd Thrift was the Pirates' general manager who brought Bonds to the majors. He called the slugger in April 2001 after Bonds hit his 500th homer.

"The first thing he told me was, 'If you would have brought me up sooner, I would have reached this sooner,' " Thrift recalls, laughing. "I practically took him out the incubator."

Pittsburgh hasn't had a winning season since Bonds signed as a free agent with the Giants before the '93 season — joining the team he cheered as a youngster when his dad, Bobby Bonds, and godfather, Hall of Famer Willie Mays, played in the same outfield.

Giants owner Peter Magowan credits Bobby Bonds, who died in August 2003 of cancer, with helping the team sign Barry Bonds. At the time, the Giants were losing money and rumored to be headed to Tampa Bay before new ownership kept the team in the Bay Area.

"We actually had negotiated a (six-year, $43.75 million) deal with Barry before my group had been approved as new owners," Magowan says. "Baseball had a problem with that and basically ordered me to undo the arrangement."

With Bonds declared a free agent again, Magowan turned to Bobby Bonds and assured the family the prospective ownership group saw Barry as the key to the franchise's future. Magowan's group also vowed to make up for any difference in the offer to Bonds in the event they didn't get the team and Bonds had to sign elsewhere for lesser money.

"After Barry's dad and I spent a lot of hours, we formed a good, trusting relationship," Magowan says. "He could have gone a different way ... but I give Bobby Bonds all the credit. He told me, 'I believe in you guys, and we're here for you.' And that's how we got Barry."

Actually, San Francisco was the first team to draft Bonds. He was the Giants' second-round pick in 1982, but opted to attend Arizona State after graduating from Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, Calif., the same school that has produced Lynn Swann, Jim Fregosi, Gregg Jefferies and Tom Brady.

"He was an average student but he'd probably admit he could have done better, if that's what he wanted," says Russ Bertetta, Serra's alumni director, who taught Bonds English and U.S history. "I think he knew already that baseball was going to be his career."